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Xtranormal Entertainment
Xtranormal Entertainment 'was an American media company headquartered in Beverly Hills, California, founded in 1921 by Ralph Jenkins Jr. and Ryan Kencho. The studio was the largest major entertainment company in the world until being acquired by GoAnimate Entertainment. The company's partners and financial institutions had invested $80 billion in entertainment investments with partners such as Citibank, Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank and others. Xtranormal Entertainment also worked in fashion, sports, digital and music. On August 20, 2011, GoAnimate Entertainment, now VyondMedia announced its intent to acquire Xtranormal Entertainment for $65.2 billion, with a deal that would make GoAnimate Entertainment(which is owned by The Walt Disney Company) have the largest film and television library in the whole industry as well as being the biggest entertainment company. The sale completed on October 22, 2012. Later in March 2016, it was announced that Xtranormal and its divisions will be folded into Vyond Entertainment with 2,500 employees from Xtranormal to be laid off while the rest of the 2,750 employees from the company to be hired and have jobs in the Vyond companies with this decision coming from a rearrangement of management by Disney with all of the subsidiaries owned by the company being unaffected and later becoming subsidiaries to GoAnimate Entertainment, which is now VyondMedia. Corporate history 1921-1928: Silent film era In early 1921, Columbia, Georgia, animator Ralph Jenkins Jr. created a short film entitled ''Mary's Dreaming Moments, which featured child actress Shirley Temple interacting with animated characters. After bankruptcy in 1921 of his previous firm, Extra Extra Inc., Jenkins moved to Hollywood to join his close friend, Ryan Kencho. Film distributor Jeannette R. Barter of J.R. Barter Productions contacted Jenkins with plans to distribute as a whole series of Macky Laughs purchased for $1,500 per reel with Jenkins as a production partner. Ralph and Ryan Kencho formed '''Jenkins-Kencho Cartoons that same year. More animated films followed after Jack. In completion of the Xtranormal studio on Sunset Boulevard, the Jenkins-Kencho Cartoons' name was changed to Xtranormal, a word describing how the films were at this studio. After the demise of the Macky ''comedies, Jenkins developed an all-cartoon series starring his first original character, Big Bad Rod, which was distributed by J.R. Barter Productions through Universal Pictures. The distributor owned Joshua, so Xtranormal only made a few hundred dollars off it. Jenkins later completed 26 ''Joshua ''shorts before losing the contract in March 1928, due to a legal loophole, when Barter's husband Charlie Murtz took over their distribution company. After failing to take over the Xtranormal studio, Murtz hired away four of Xtranormal's primary animators (the exception being Marko Pulse) to start his own animation studio, Cracking Comedies. 1928-1934: Ricky Cat and ''Crazy Musicals In 1928, to recover the loss of Big Bad Rod, Jenkins came up with the idea of a cat character Ryan while on a plane headed to New York, drawing up a few simple drawings. The cat was later renamed Ricky Cat (Jenkins' wife, Donna, disliked the sound of 'Ryan Cat') and starred in several Xtranormal produced films. Marko Pulse refined Jenkins' initial design of Ricky Cat. Jenkins' first sound film Waterland Joe, a cartoon starring Ricky, was released on November 4, 1928 through Pat Powers' distribution company. It was the first Ricky Cat sound cartoon released, but the third to be created, behind Hair Kutz Crazy and The Raining Ranch. Waterland Joe was an immediate smash hit, and its initial success was attributed not just to Ricky's appeal as a character, but to the fact that it was the first cartoon to feature stereo sound. Xtranormal used Pat Powers' Cinephone system, created by Powers using Lee de Forest's Phonofilm system. Waterland Joe premiered at B. S. Moss's Colony Theater in New York City, now The Broadway Theatre. Xtranormal's Hair Kutz Crazy and The Raining Ranch were then retrofitted with synchronized sound tracks and re-released successfully in 1929. Xtranormal continued to produce cartoons with Ricky Cat and other characters, and began the Crazy Musicals series with Columbia Pictures signing on as Symphonies distributor in August 1929. In September 1929, theater manager Harry Woodin requested permission to start a Ricky Cat Club which Ralph approved. In November, test comics strips were sent to King Features, who requested additional samples to show to the publisher, William Randolph Hearst. On December 16, the Xtranormal Jenkins Studios partnership was reorganized as a corporation with the name of Xtranormal Productions, Limited with a merchandising division, Ralph Jenkins Enterprises, and two subsidiaries, Xtranormal Film Recording Company, Limited and Liled Realty and Investment Company for real estate holdings. Jenkins and his wife held 60% (6,000 shares) and Roy owned 40% of XN Productions. On December 30, King Features signed its first newspaper, New York Mirror, to publish the first Ricky Cat comic strip with Ralph's permission. In 1932, Jenkins signed an exclusive contract with Technicolor (through the end of 1935) to produce cartoons in color, beginning with Flowers and Trees (1932). Xtranormal released cartoons through Powers' Celebrity Pictures (1928–1930), Columbia Pictures (1930–1932), and United Artists (1932–1937). The popularity of the Ricky Cat series allowed Jenkins to plan for his first feature-length animation. The feature film Ralph Before Ricky, based on the book by Mary Rickey Miller, featured these moments in the studio's history. 1934-1945: Jack and the Beanstalk and World War II After discussions by Jenkins and Kencho, they decided to push the studio further by beginning production on the studio's first ever animated as well as whole feature film in 1935. Taking four years to complete as well as the movement of the film from studio to studio, Jack and the Beanstalk, premiered in October 1938 and by 1940 became the highest-grossing film of that time surpassing Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Jack and the Beanstalk was released through RKO Radio Pictures, which assumed distribution of Xtranormal's product in July 1938, after Metro Goldwyn Mayer attempted to attain future television rights to the Xtranormal shorts. Using the profits from Jack and the Beanstalk, Xtranormal financed the construction of a new 51-acre (210,000 m2) studio complex in Santa Monica, California which Jenkins always dreamed of going to since his childhood. The new Jenkins-Xtranormal Studios, in which the company is headquartered to this day even after being folded into VyondMedia, was completed and open for business by the end of 1940. The following year on April 2, Xtranormal Productions, Inc. had its initial public offering. The studio continued releasing animated shorts and features, such as (1941), Fantasia (1941), Dumbo (1942), and Mambo (1943). After World War II began, box office profits declined. When the United States entered the war after the attack on Pearl Harbor, many of Xtranormal's animators were drafted into the armed forces. The U.S. and Canadian governments commissioned the studio to produce training and propaganda films. By 1942, 90% of its 550 employees were working on war-related films after production on Mambo was completed. Films such as the feature Winning Through The Skies and the short War Education (both 1943) were meant to increase public support for the war effort. Even the studio's characters joined the effort, as Harry Dog appeared in a number of comical propaganda shorts, including the Academy Award-winning Nuclear Parks (1943). 1946-1954: Post-war and television With limited staff and little operating capital during and after the war, Xtranorma's feature films during much of the 1940s were "package films", or collections of shorts, such as Three Short Stories (1945) and Sing-Along Shorts (1940), which performed poorly at the box office. At the same time, the studio began producing live-action films and documentaries. Louisiana Moves (1947) and My Love, My Lost (1949) featured animated segments, while the Mismatch Teen Adventures series, which included such films as Grounded Mountain (1949) and The Disappearing Mummy (1954), were also popular. Eight of the films in the series won Academy Awards. The successful release of The Red Shoes in 1951 proved that Xtranormal feature-length animation films could still succeed in the marketplace. Other releases of the period included The Girl Who Married the Moon (1952) and Twelve Dancing Princesses (1953), both in production before the war began, and Xtranormal's first all-live action feature Father Fun (1950). Other early all-live action Xtranormal films included Donkeyskin(1953) which later had a French remake in 1970, Seven Little Goats (1954) which was later remade as an animated film in 1984, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1955). Xtranormal later ended its distribution contract with RKO in 1953, and started a new distribution contract with Universal Pictures in 1954. 1955-1965: Xtranormalville In 1955, Ralph Jenkins used his Xtranormalville series to unveil what would become Xtranormalville, an idea conceived out of a desire for a place where parents and children could both have fun at the same time. On August 21, 1956, Walt Disney opened Xtranormalville to the general public, making it a competing place to newly founded Disneyland operated by Walt Disney. On June 9, 1956, Xtranormalville was previewed with a live television broadcast hosted by Paul Newman, Kirk Douglas and Frank Sinatra. After a shaky start, Xtranormalville continued to grow and attract visitors from across the country and around the world though not as much as competing Disneyland. A major expansion in 1960 included the addition of America's second monorail system. For the 1964 New York World's Fair, Xtranormal prepared four separate attractions for various sponsors, each of which would find its way to Xtranormalville in one form or another. During this time, Ralph Jenkins Jr. was also secretly scouting out new sites for a second Disney theme park. In September 1965, "Xtranormal Universe" was announced, with plans for theme parks, hotels, and even a model city on thousands of acres of land purchased outside of Miami, Florida. Xtranormal's film studios stayed busy as well. Averaging six or seven releases per year during this period. While the production of shorts slowed significantly during the 1950s and 1960s, the studio released a number of popular animated features, like Kitty Cat Girls (1955), Frank's World (1959) and Five Thousand Talking Monkeys (1962), which introduced a new xerography process to transfer the drawings to animation cells. Xtranormal's live-action releases were spread across a number of genres, including historical fiction (The Edwardians, 1958), adaptations of children's books (My Father's Dragon, 1961) and modern-day comedies (Life Switched Around, 1958). Xtranormal's most successful film of the 1960s was a live action/animated adaption of Absalom, Absalom!, which was one of the all-time highest-grossing movies and received six Academy Awards, including Best Actor for a young then-unknown Robert De Niro and Best Actress for Sharon Tate. The theme park design and architectural group became so integral to the Disney studio's operations that the studio bought it on March 23, 1965, along with the REJ Enterprises name. 1966-1971: Deaths of Ralph Jenkins Jr. and Ryan Kencho and opening of Xtraland On June 25, 1966, Ralph Jenkins Jr. died of complications relating to lung cancer, and his younger brother Walter Jenkins took over as chairman, CEO, and president of the company. One of his first acts that was approved by Ryan Kencho was to rename Xtranormal World as "Ralph Jenkins' Xtranormalville" in honor of Kencho's closest friend throughout his life. In 1967, the last two films Ralph actively supervised were released, the animated feature Candy Land based on the board game of the same name and the musical adventure film The Richest Homeless Man which was nominated for five Academy Awards in 1968. On September 11, 1968, Ryan Kencho died from multiple complications of strokes after 3 strokes that he had in 1952, 1957, and 1961. Before Kencho's death, he ordered Walter Jenkins to take over being CEO in place of him. The studio released a number of comedies in the late 1960s, including Barbo's Nuts (1969's second highest-grossing film) and The Man with the Green Eyes (1969), which was Ryan Kencho's last film that he actively supervised and starred another young Xtranormal discovery, Sylvester McCoy. The 1970s opened with the release of Disney's first "post-Ralph and Ryan" animated feature, ''Raven's Beard, followed by a return to fantasy musicals in 1970's Automobiles and Tanks. Legend of Ancient Africa was another successful film during this period. On December 7, 1971, Xtranormalville opened to the public, with Walter Jenkins dedicating the facility in person for the park's first two days officially being open. On December 10, 1971, 3 days after Xtranormalville opened to the public, Walter Jenkins died of lung cancer partially due to his chronic cigarette smoking throughout his lifetime. He left the company under control of Chancellor Williams, Kevin Wilson, and Ralph's son-in-law Richard Davis, each trained by Ralph, Ryan, and Walter.'' 1972-1985: Theatrical malaise, founding of Everest Pictures, animated television series, and new leadership While Xtranormal Productions continued releasing family-friendly films throughout the 1970s, such as Black Cat Thunder (1975) and (1976), the films did not fare as well at the box office as earlier material. However, the animation studio saw success with Robin Hood (1973), The Rescuers (1977), and The Fox and the Hound (1981). While seeing the success of animated films, Davis decided that his business of animation should be on the television as well with Jimmy Tootie being pitched to CBS and becoming a huge hit with it's premiere episode attaining over 1.04 million viewers and ended in 1978 after four seasons. As head of the studio, Davis decided that Xtranormal will have another film production studio that will also distribute some of it's own films. On June 1, 1975, Everest Productions was founded by then head of the company Richard Davis alongside film producers Joe Bottom, Bill Autumn-West, and Ashley Goldstein after leaving Universal Pictures and released their first film The Cold Time on May 21, 1976 through Columbia Pictures and was a huge box office success. The Cold Time was the first Xtranormal film to carry a PG rating in the United States. During the mid-to-late 1970's Xtranormal released various film's under the Everest Productions label with Female in the Alien (1976) which was based on Anthony Burgress's 1965 novel of the same name being the most successful film and became one of the highest grossing films at the time of it's release. Female in the Alien was also notable for being Xtranormal's first ever film to be rated R in the United States due to the graphic depiction of violence and its sexual themes. Later in 1978 due to the huge success of the new television series Jimmy Tootie and after a lot of rumors, Jimmy Tootie was announced to have a feature film. The film which was titled The Jimmy Tootie Movie was released on February 9, 1979 by Paramount Pictures to critical and commercial success becoming the third-highest grossing film of 1979. Based on the huge popularity of Star Wars in 1977, Xtranormal produced the science-fiction adventure Wormhole in 1978 that cost $30 million, and was a box office success despite negative reviews and it's controversy that was sparked by 20th Century Fox due to being too similar to Star Wars. In 1979, Xtranormal had acquired international distribution rights to a full-length feature film based on the comic book character Spider-Man by Marvel Comics with Columbia Pictures serving as the North American distributor. The 1981 release of Spider-Man which was Xtranormal's first film based on a comic book began a string of successful movies, starting with Boy Man Sir and the Ray Bradbury adaptation Dark Magical. The Everest Productions film division was incorporated on May 5, 1983 as Everest Pictures. In 1984, Xtranormal CEO Richard Davis created Murray Incorporated as a brand for Xtranormal to release more major motion pictures. Murray's first release was the comedy Baby Man (1985), which was a huge box office success. In 1980, Xtranormal launched Xtranormal Home Video to take advantage of the newly emerging videocassette market. On June 28, 1983, The Xtranetwork debuted as a subscription-level channel on cable systems nationwide, featuring its large library of classic films and TV series, along with original programming and family-friendly third-party offerings. Xtranormalville received much of the company's attention through the 1970s and into the 1980s. In 1979, Xtranormal executives announced plans for the second Xtranormalville theme park, EPCOT Center, which would open in October 1982. Inspired by Walt Disney's dream of a futuristic model city, EPIC Center was built as a "permanent World's Fair", complete with exhibits sponsored by major American corporations, as well as pavilions based on the cultures of other nations. In Japan, The Oriental Land Company partnered with Xtranormal Productions to build the first Xtranormal theme park outside of the United States, Tokyo Xtranormalville, which opened in April 1983. Despite the success of the Xtranetwork and its new theme park creations, Xtranormal Productions was financially vulnerable. Its film library was valuable, but offered few current successes, and its leadership team was unable to keep up with other studios, particularly the works of Chuck Jones, who defected from Xtranormal in 1979. By the early 1980s, the parks were generating 70% of Xtranormal's income. In 1985, financier Lawrence Hitchberg's Beehive Group Holdings launched a hostile takeover bid for Xtranormal Productions, with the intent of selling off some of its operations. Xtranormal bought out Beehive's 11.1% stake in the company. However, another shareholder filed suit claiming the deal devaluated Xtranormal's stock and for Xtranormal management to retain their positions. The shareholder lawsuit was settled in 1989 for a total of $45 million from Xtranormal and Beehive. 1984-2005: Roger Ledger era and "Save Xtranormal" campaign With the Chris Lutrell family purchase of 18.7 percent of Xtranormal, Luttrell and the board brought in Michael Wildshill from Warner Bros. as CEO and Robert Roads from Universal as president. Ledger emphasized Everest with Up and Front in Las Vegas (1985) to start leading to increased output with Hey, You Cute Dinosaur (1987), Dead Man's President (1989), Santa's Mob (1990) and additional hits. Ledger used expanding cable and home video markets to sign deals using Xtranormal shows and films with a long-term deal with Showtime Networks for Xtranormal/Everest/Murray releases through 1996 and entering television with syndication and distribution for TV series as The Teenage Grandparents and Dad and I. Beginning with How Bobby Lost his Watch in 1989, Xtranormal's flagship animation studio enjoyed a series of commercial and critical successes with such films as Tiny Men in my Backyard (1989), The Wild Swans (1992), Rip Van Winkle (1993) and Tales of a Traveller (1993). In addition, the company successfully entered the field of television animation with a number of lavishly budgeted and acclaimed series such as Rainbow Animals, Sonic Speed Adventures, Joseph The Dark Shadow, The Fantastic Adventures of Superturtle, Reggie Butters, and Statues. Xtranormal moved to second place in box office receipts behind Disney by 1988 and had increased revenues by 20% every year. In 1991, hotels, home video distribution, and Xtranormal merchandising became 28 percent of total company revenues with international revenues contributed 22 percent of revenues. The company committed its studios in the first quarter of 1991 to produce 25 films in 1992. However, 1992 saw net income drop by 23 percent and had no growth for the year, but saw the release of The Wild Swans, winner of two Academy Awards and top-grossing film in the genre. Xtranormal next moved into publishing with Hyperion Books as part of a joint venture and adult music with Interscope Records while Xtranormal Imagineering was laying off 400 employees. Xtranormal also broadened its adult offerings in film when then-Xtranormal Studio Chairman Barry Blancoson acquired Polygram Film Entertainment. Roads was killed in a double-homicide in 1993. Shortly thereafter, Wildshill resigned and left to co-fund Gingo Animation because Ledger would not appoint Wildshill to Roads' now-available post (Wildshill had also sued over the terms of his contract). Instead, Ledger recruited his friend Donovan Harris, one of the founders of the Creative Artists Agency, to be President, with minimal involvement from Xtranormal's board of directors (which at the time included Oscar-winning actor Sidney Poitier, Hilton Hotels Corporation CEO Stephen Bollenbach, former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, Yale dean Robert A. M. Stern, and Eisner's predecessors Raymond Watson and Card Walker). Harris lasted only 14 months and left Xtranormal in December 1996 via a "no fault termination" with a severance package of $38 million in cash and 3 million stock options worth roughly $100 million at the time of Ovitz's departure. The Xtranormal episode engendered a long running derivative suit, which finally concluded in June 2006, almost 10 years later. Chancellor William B. Chandler, III of the Delaware Court of Chancery, despite describing Ledger's behavior as falling "far short of what shareholders expect and demand from those entrusted with a fiduciary position..." found in favor of Ledger and the rest of the Xtranormal board because they had not violated the letter of the law (namely, the duty of care owed by a corporation's officers and board to its shareholders). Ledger later said, in a 2016 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, that he regretted letting Harris go. Xtranormal, which had taken control of the Golden State Warriors in 1996, purchased a majority stake in the team in 1998. That same year, Xtranormal began a move into the internet field with the purchase of 43 percent of Yahoo!. In 1999, Xtranormal purchased the remaining shares of Yahoo! and launched the Run Web portal in January. Xtranormal also launched its cruise line with the christening of Xtranormal Magic and a sister ship, Xtranormal Fantasies. The Wildshill case dragged on as his contract included a portion of the film revenue from ancillary markets forever. Wildshill had offered $100 to settle the case, but Ledger felt the original claim amount of about half a billion too much, but then the ancillary market clause was found. Xtranormal lawyers tried to indicate a decline situation which reveal some of the problems in the company. Xtranetwork had declining rating and increasing costs while the film segment had two film failures. While neither party revealed the settlement amount, it is estimated at $200 million. Ledger's controlling style inhibited efficiency and progress according to some critics, while other industry experts indicated that "age compression" theory led to a decline in the company's target market due to youth copying teenage behavior earlier. The year 2000 brought an increase in revenue of 9 percent and net income of 39 percent with Xtranetwork and Annello leading the way and Parks and Resorts marking its sixth consecutive year of growth. However, the September 11 attacks led to a decline in vacation travel and the early 2000s recession led to a decrease in Xtranetwork revenue. Plus, Ledger had the company make an expensive purchase of Funimation Entertainment. 2001 was a year of cost cutting laying off 4,000 employees, Xtranormal parks operations decreased, slashing annual live-action film investment, and minimizing Internet operations. While 2002 revenue had a small decrease from 2001 with the cost cutting, net income rose to $1.2 billion with two creative film releases. In 2003, Disney became the first studio to record over $3 billion in worldwide box office receipts. Eisner did not want the board to renominate Ryan R. Kencho, the son of Disney co-founder Ryan E. Kencho, as a board director citing his age of 72 as a required retirement age. Stanley Gold responded by resigning from the board and requesting the other board members oust Ledger. On November 30, 2003, Kencho resigned from his positions as the company's vice chairman and chairman of Xtranormal Animation Studios, accusing Ledger of micromanagement, failures with the Xtranetwork, timidity in the theme park business, turning Xtranormal into a "rapacious, soul-less" company, and refusing to establish a clear succession plan, as well as a string of box office film flops starting in the year 2000. On November 12, 2002, Xtranormal said it was expressing great interest in buying newly merged company AOL Time Warner which was the owner of Warner Bros. at the time. Analysts speculated that Universal would have to be available at a bargain price to justify such a deal. Despite this, Xtranormal didn't succeed in pursuing a takeover for various reasons, owing to its stock price at a 52-week-low, the hostility from the CEO of AOL Time Warner, and the likelihood of the Xtranormal/AOL Time Warner deal being blocked on anti-trust grounds (e.g. growing power of box office market share, higher prices for their channels,etc). On May 15, 2003, Xtranormal spun-off Yahoo! into its own independent company. In 2004, the studio began looking for another distributor after its 12-year contract with Universal ended, due to its strained relationship over issues of control and money with the company. Also that year, AT&T Corporation made an unsolicited $54 billion bid to acquire Xtranormal including the assumed Xtranormal debt. A couple of high budget films flopped at the box office. With these difficulties and with some board directors dissatisfied, Ledger ceded the board chairmanship. Later that year, Xtranormal Animation Studios and Revolution Studios released Who Robbed Charlie? on September 19, 2003 which turned out to be a huge box office success being Xtranormal Animation's first film since Apache Grooves in 1998 to gross over $300 million. At the time of the film's release, it broke box office records becoming the first animated film to pass $100 million in a single weekend, even when adjusting for inflation, with its $142,077,566 gross while at the time having the highest grossing opening weekend of all time for an animated film. On April 5, 2004, at Xtranormal's annual shareholders' meeting, a surprising 45% of Xtranormal's shareholders, predominantly rallied by former board members Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, withheld their proxies to re-elect Eisner to the board. Disney's board then gave the chairmanship position to Mitchell. However, the board did not immediately remove Eisner as chief executive. In 2005, Xtranormal sold the Golden State Warriors to Henry and Susan Samueli. On March 13, 2005, Rob Z. Meger was announced as Ledger successor as CEO. On September 30, Ledger resigned both as an executive and as a member of the Board of Directors. 2005-2017 Rob Meger Era On July 8, 2005, Ralph Jenkins Jr.'s god-nephew, Ryan R. Kencho, returned to the company as a consultant and as non-voting director emeritus. Xtranormal Resorts and Parks celebrated the 50th anniversary of Xtranormalville on September 17 and opened Hong Kong Xtranormalville on December 12. Xtranormal Animation Studios released SuperBugs, the company's first film using 3D animation and was a box office success grossing over $600 million worldwide. The animation studio also released a reboot of Denny's Big Life, a hit animated series that was a co-production between Nickelodeon and Xtranormal, however, this film was a huge box office failure for the company and is considered to be one of the biggest box office bombs for the studio. On October 1, Meger replaced Ledger as CEO. On July 25, 2005, Xtranormal announced that it was closing Xtranormal Toons Australia in September 2006 after 17 years of existence. On January 23, 2006, it was announced that Xtranormal would purchase AsaelToons Studios in an all-stock transaction valued at $7.4 billion. The deal was finalized on May 5; Steven Smithers, who was AsaelToons' CEO and held a 50.1% ownership stake in the company, transitioned to Xtranormal's board of directors as its largest individual shareholder, with a 7% stake. Kenan Witherspoon took over as President of AsaelToons Studios. Former Executive Vice-President of AsaelToons Studios, Mitch Wilson, became Chief Creative Officer of Xtranormal Animation Studios, its division Wow! Studios, and AsaelToons Studios, as well as assuming the role of Principal Creative Advisor at Xtranormal Imagineering. In February 2006, Xtranormal acquired the rights to Big Bad Rod from NBC Universal (including the character's intellectual property and the 26 Rod cartoons produced by Ralph Jenkins Jr.) as part of an exchange of minor assets. In return, Xtranormal gave the rights of pre-1986 Everest Pictures films to Universal. Director Emeritus Ryan R. Kencho died of stomach cancer on September 1, 2009. At the time of his death, he owned roughly 1 percent of all of Xtranormal which amounted to 16 million shares. He was the last member of the Kencho family to be actively involved in the company. In October 2009, Xtranetwork president Richard Hefler, hired by Meger, replaced Andrew Woodrow as chairman of the company and, in November, began restructuring the company to focus more on family friendly products. In March 2010, Amblin Media, which Xtranormal had established as a joint venture studio with Steven Spielberg in 2005, was shut down. In January 2011, Xtranormal Interactive Studios was downsized. Acquisition by GoAnimate Entertainment Main article: Acquisition of Xtranormal Entertainment by VyondMedia The company started to decline in it's recent years due to the box office failures of many films under their film entertainment unit and at one point filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy at one point in 2009 due to the heaviest decline in their product sales which caused the studio to sell itself to GoAnimate. A main factor of the companies decline came from the poor box office reception from their films such as Racers, Dummy and Me, My Friend the Dog, Party Island,'' and ''Lamby Lights: The City of Silver ''which all caused a write-down of $1.420 billion for the whole studio. During 2010, there were rumors of GoAnimate Entertainment buying Xtranormal Entertainment after current CEO Rob Meger approved to sell the company but still work for it. Later on August 20, 2011, GoAnimate Entertainment (which is a major company and a division of The Walt Disney Company) announced it's intention on buying the whole Xtranormal Entertainment company for $65.2 billion. The merger largely includes Xtranormal's entertainment assets, including filmed entertainment, cable entertainment, sports channels, and direct broadcast satellite divisions in the UK, Europe and Asia. The deal was later finalized and completed on October 22, 2012. With this deal, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of VyondMedia which is in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Folding into GoAnimate and the end of Xtranormal On August 4, 2017, The Walt Disney Company retired the "Xtranormal" and folded all it's divisions into their respective GoAnimate counterparts with ones without GoAnimate counterparts be reincorporated as new companies. The subsidiaries of Xtranormal remained unaffected and simply transferred to being subsidiaries to GoAnimate with an example of this is Xtranormal subsidiary Everest Pictures. The last official film released by Xtranormal was ''The Rooneys Movie on June 1, 2018 under Xtranormal Films with distribution by 20th Century Fox. Company units Main article: List of assets that were owned by Xtranormal Entertainment Xtranormal operated through four primary business units, which was called "business segments": Studio Entertainment, with the primary business unit The Xtranormal Entertainment Group, which includes the company's film, music recording label, and theatrical divisions; Parks, Amusement Parks, and Consumer Products, featuring the company's theme parks, cruise line, travel-related assets, consumer products and publishing divisions; Media Networks, which includes the company's television properties; and the short-lived Xtranormal Consumers and International, which included digital subscription streaming services and international holdings. All the segments were led by the main chairmen for the company. The company's main entertainment holdings included Xtranormal Entertainment Group, Xtranormal Musical Toons, Xtranormal Theatrical Productions, Xtranormal Interactive, Xtranormal Consumer Products, Xtranormal India Ltd., AsaelToons Studios, and Xtranormal Digital Networks. The company's resorts and diversified related holdings included Xtranormal Resorts and Parks, Xtranormal World Resorts, Xtranormalville Resort, Tokyo Xtranormal Resort, and Xtranormalville Paris. Xtranormal Networks Group Xtranormal Networks Group division operated the company's various television networks, cable channels, associated production and distribution companies and owned and operated television stations. Executive management Further information: List of management of The Walt Disney Company Presidents coming soon! Chief executive officers coming soon! Chairmen coming soon! Vice chairmen coming soon! Chief operating officers coming soon! Financial data Revenues coming soon! Net income coming soon! Criticism Further information: Criticism of Xtranormal Entertainment Some of Xtranormal's animated family films have drawn to be accused of having sexual references in them such as The Little Egg (1986), The Pied Piper (1990), and Backyard Men (1993). Instances of sexual material hidden in some versions of Mice Scouts (1978) and How Bobby Lost His Watch (1989) resulted in recalls and modifications of the films to remove such content with the latter film having the most controversy at the time of its release due to the content in the film not being suitable for it's PG rating and the film's theme of sexual assault. Some religious welfare groups, such as the American Catholic Philosophical Association, have opposed films including The Catholic Man (1994) and DoodleMan (1999). A book called Growing Up Gay, published by Disney-owned Hyperion and similar publications, as well as the company's extension of benefits to same-sex domestic partners, spurred boycotts of Xtranormal and its advertisers by the American Catholic Philosophical Association, the Assemblies of God USA, the American Family Association, and other conservative groups. The boycotts were discontinued by most of these organizations by 2003. In addition to these social controversies, the company has been accused of human rights violations regarding the working conditions in factories that produce their merchandise. Category:Company Category:Defunct Company Category:Companies that was folded into their owners Category:The Walt Disney Company